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MiniMax raises $619M in Hong Kong IPO as investor appetite for generative AI remains strong
Chinese artificial intelligence startup MiniMax Group Ltd. went public in Hong Kong today and raised about $619 million, highlighting strong investor appetite for generative AI companies on both sides of the Pacific.
MiniMax priced its shares at HK$165 ($21.18) apiece, the top of its previously indicated range, and sold 29.2 million shares in the IPO, ahead of previous plans to sell 25.3 million shares. The offering was reported to be heavily oversubscribed, with strong demand from both institutional and retail investors.
Founded in 2021 by former executives from SenseTime Group Inc., MiniMax develops large language and multimodal foundation models capable of generating text, audio, video and music. The company operates several consumer-facing AI products, including conversational and creative applications, while also providing model access and tools to enterprise customers through application programming interfaces.
MiniMax has emerged as one of China’s leading independent AI startups and is often grouped alongside peers such as Beijing Zhipu Hauzhang Technology Co. Ltd. as part of a new wave of so-called Chinese domestic “AI tigers.”
As noted in December ahead of its IPO, MiniMax is among a growing field of Chinese AI model providers aiming to become product leaders. Over the past few years, multiple model developers, including Baidu Inc. and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., have released frontier-model candidates.
Coming into its IPO, MiniMax had raised significant private funding from strategic and financial investors. According to Tracxn, MiniMax had raised approximately $850 million over four rounds from investors including Alibaba, Tencent Holdings Ltd., Gaorong Capital Management Co. Ltd., IDG Capital Partners Ltd., miHoYo Co. Ltd., Mingshi Investment Management Co. Ltd. and Yunqi Partners Management Co. Ltd.
The successful listing comes as Hong Kong experiences a resurgence in technology and AI-related IPOs after a prolonged slowdown. MiniMax’s debut is being viewed as an important test case for public-market support of capital-intensive generative AI businesses in China amid tighter regulatory scrutiny and global competition.
The IPO also shows that investors are willing to place sizable bets on companies building foundational AI models, even unprofitable ones such as MiniMax, on the hope that enterprise adoption and platform economics will eventually translate into durable growth.
Image: Minimax
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